Welcome to Filthy Dreams
Well hello there! Welcome to Filthy Dreams, a blog that analyzes culture through a queer lens. Rather than jumping right into new content, we thought it best to introduce ourselves and our aesthetics with our Trash Manifesto
Latest Entries
Everyday Perverts: Lovett/Codagnone’s “Greetings” at Participant Inc
Can ball gags be wholesome? Can an object stuffed into your gaping mouth, eyes watering as you struggle to slurp back a swallow, be family-friendly? Can that same ball gag, yanked into place by a leather harness with straps cutting sharp diagonals across your face, be a suitable accessory for a lovely, casual dinner with … Continue reading
Can the Gaza Biennale Help Break Through the Wall of Censorship and Hasbara?
A young boy in a rumpled maroon T-shirt and jeans pushes a wheelchair filled to the brim with heavy yellow plastic water jugs. His face is a spectral smear with a hint of a nose, a curved ear, and a slight, concentrated frown. These indistinguishable features not only obscure his identity but mark his effort … Continue reading
Death is Not the End, It’s a Promotion: Charlie Kirk AI Tributes Are the Height of Christian Conservative Kitsch
Heaven apparently isn’t a kingdom in the sky with gigantic pearly gates, but a warm, golden-hued sky with pluffy clouds and a perpetual, dramatic, hair-fluttering wafting breeze. And what do lucky VIPs do once they hit paradise? Apparently, take a whole lot of selfies with others who perished in similarly violent ways. At least that’s … Continue reading
Hunx and His Punx’s “Walk Out on This World” Is John Waters-core with an Apocalyptic Twist
Is white lipstick the trashiest shade of lip color? Despite continually mulling over what belongs in the oozing dumpster of the trash aesthetic, I never really thought about it until the elongated scream of “Whiiiiiiiiiiiii-te lipstick!” that kickstarts the sonic tribute to this pasty lip on Hunx and His Punx’s new album Walk Out on … Continue reading
Shocker! I Didn’t Completely Hate the Armory Show
I haven’t attended an art fair in about a decade. Okay, fine, I do attend the Outsider Art Fair most years. But other than sampling art made by true weirdos rather than those whose eye has been hammered into submission by crit classes and high-end commercial galleries’ demands to maintain a samey-samey aesthetic to sell … Continue reading
Trust the Witch: How Witch Films Mirror Feminist Movements and Born-Again Backlashes in Payton McCarty-Simas’s “That Very Witch”
Thank the filth elders above that Connie Marble somehow survived her attempted execution for assholism and skulked from Baltimore to small-town Pennsylvania to live out her sunset years! That was the first thought that crossed my mind as Aunt Gladys rounded the corner of Pepperidge Farm, crap cereal, and hot dog enthusiast Principal Marcus Miller’s … Continue reading
Is Anyone Going to Save the Smithsonian Museums from Destructo Don?
A tan Statue of Liberty proudly shoves a ripe, red, late summer tomato into the air, a more delectable replacement for her tired torch. A basket of more perfect-looking tomatoes, ideal for a caprese salad or simple tomato sandwich, is tucked under her arms. It doesn’t take a trained art history snoot to understand the … Continue reading
With “Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You,” Ethel Cain Is the Next Great American Storyteller
There is a tornado at the heart of Ethel Cain’s new album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, a storm of such Southern Gothic biblical proportions that it rivals the foreboding flood that heralds the foretold birth of Elvis and his dead twin on Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ “Tupelo.” The tempest rolls in slowly … Continue reading
Royalty Loves an Occasional Roll in the Gutter: The Glorious Camp Excess of Sequinette Jaynesfield’s Films
The porch goose, or as I mistakenly called it before googling for this article, lawn duck, is the unsung hero of lawn ornament kitsch. Sure, everyone loves a pink flamingo, which proclaims its bad taste proudly with that gaudy, garish pink rammed into a browning lawn at an awkward angle. That’s not even taking into … Continue reading
Move Over Barbie Expo! Lina Bradford and Gage Spex’s “Dream a Little Dream of Me” at Salma Sarriedine Is Doll Divinity
I regret to inform you that Montreal’s little slice of kitsch heaven, Barbie Expo (or Expo Barbie en français), has gone to seed. Sure, when I first visited the supposed largest Barbie exhibition in the world, its host, the mall Les Cours Mont-Royal, didn’t exactly live up to its PR promise to “redefine the meaning … Continue reading